New Simplified Student Visa Framework (SSVF) announced

Zhanna Heenan

Visa News 22 June, 2016

The Australian Government will be introducing a new student visa framework on 1 July 2016. From that date onwards there will only be one student visa available to study in Australia – the Student visa (subclass 500). After this date, if you want to apply to study in Australia, you will need to apply for this visa irrespective of your field of study.

The new process called the Simplified Student Visa Framework (SSVF) will replace the Streamlined Visa Processing (SVP) which has been used since 2012. It is designed to make the process of applying for a student visa simpler, reduce bureaucracy, and improve the integrity of the program.

Key changes:

A reduction in the number of student visa subclasses from eight to two – one student visa (subclass 500) and a student guardian visa (subclass 590);
all international students will be required to apply for their student visa online; and
a new immigration risk framework will be used to guide the evidence of the English language and financial capacity that a student needs to provide with their visa application.

All students will continue to have to meet all other core student visa criteria such as the Genuine Temporary Entrant requirement and health and character criteria. The SSVF only applies to student visa applications lodged from 1 July 2016 and will not affect the visas of existing student visa holders.